Seeking additional chapters for the book "Indian Trans Cinema: Film, Television, and OTT Series." This collection showcases the breadth of languages and regional differences within Indian cinema that explores transgender themes. Proposals are due May 1, 2025. Chapters may focus on a single film or multiple films.

After the following list of confirmed chapters, you will find details about how to submit your proposal. We seek additional chapters exploring diverse Indian films, so to be competitive, new chapter proposals should not include any of the films already covered by confirmed chapters, which are listed in parentheses after the title of each chapter below:

Confirmed chapters:

• Reconceptualizing “Nari Bhav”: Critiquing the Politics of Androgynous Semiotics, Perverse Mimesis, and Transcorporeal Signification in Kaushik Ganguly’s "Arekti Premer Golpo: and Raja Sen’s "Maya Mridanga" (Arekti Premer Golpo and Maya Mridanga), Dr. Amar Chakrabortty, Department of English, Government Arts and Commerce College, Sami, India
• Transmasculinity and Malayalam Film: The Twin Effects of Transition and Demonetisation (Iratta Jeevitham), Dr. M.A. Miller, Washington State University, USA
• Trans Bodies in Malayalam Cinema: Class, Caste, and the Politics of Representation (Njan Marykutty and Udalazham), Dr. Anjitha Gopi, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) AP University, Amaravati, India
• Gothic Trans in Indian Cinema (Kanchana and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3), Ananya Chatterjee, Department of English, Balurghat College, India and Dr. Nisarga Bhattacharjee, Department of English, Techno India University, West Bengal, India
• India’s First Film Heroine, Trans Cultural Traditions, and Films (Tamanna and Ardh), Dr. Manisha Prakash, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Aryabhatta Knowledge University, Patna, India
• Cinematic Representation of Eunuchs in Medieval Royal Courts: Examining Reel Trans in Select Indian Screen Narratives (Jodhaa-Akbar and Padmavat), Dr. Anup Shekhar Chakraborty, Department of Political Science, North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong, Meghalaya, India and Dr. Praggnaparamita Biswas, Independent Scholar
• Transgender Representation during the 1947 Partition in Hindi Cinema (Qissa: The Tale of a Lonely Ghost), Dr. Nidhi Shrivastava, Department of Languages and Literature, Sacred Heart University, USA
• Gender, Space, and Survival: "Daayraa" and the Evolution of Trans Narratives in Indian Cinema (Daayraa), Dr. Somsuvra Midya, Department of English, Calcutta Girls’ College, India
• Desire on Screen in Bengali Cinema (Chitrangada: The Crowning Wish), Dr. Nasmeem F. Akhtar, Department of English and the UGC Centre for Women’s Studies, Dibrugarh University, Assam, India
• Trans-Feminist and Decolonial Interventions in Tamil Cinema (Super Deluxe and Paava Kadhaigal), Dr. Tanupriya, Department of English and Cultural Studies, Christ University, Delhi NCR Campus, India
• Reimagining Trans Bodies in Bollywood Movies in the 21st Century (Laxmii), Dr. Ali Saha, University of Melbourne, Australia
• Changing the Portrayal of Transgender Protagonists in Indian Cinema (Tamanna, Jogwa, • Naanu Avanalla…Avalu,and Taali: Bajaungi Nahi, Bajwaungi), Dr. Chandrakant Kamble, Amity School of Communication, Amity University, Mumbai, India
• Playing Trans: Gender Performativity and Masquerade in Hindi Cinema (Sangharsh, Tamanna, Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui, and Haddi), Gunjan Gupta and Dr. Nayana George, Department of English and Cultural Studies, Christ University, Bengaluru, India
• Between Reel and Real: The Home as a Queer Space in the Lives of Trans Women (Rajni, Paava Kadhaigal, Kanchana, Ardhanari, Njan Marykutty, and Aalorukkam), Rincy Daniel and Dr. Sreejith Kadaiyakkol, Department of English and Cultural Studies, Christ University, Bengaluru, India
• Safety as a Genre: Chronotopes of Trans Mobility in Indian Cinema (Kaalakaandi), Dr. Prerna Subramanian, Jindal Global Law School, India
• Trans Formations: The Transgender Gaze and Class Privilege in the Indian Web Series "Made in Heaven" (Made in Heaven), Dr. Puja Raj, Alliance University, India
• Queering the Narrative: "Taali" as a Site of Gender Disruption and Activism (Taali), Sourav Das and Dr. Jaipal, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, India
• Transgender Identity and Popular Cultural Representation: A Digital Ethnography of the Web Series "Taali" and Its Reception (Taali), Dr. Deepika, Department of Media Studies, Gurugram University, India

"Indian Trans Cinema" examines the variety of genres of trans cinema from all regions of India and in all languages, as well as the connections between these films and core concepts in trans studies and in film theory. Each chapter will provide extensive references to both trans theory and film theory. Abstracts for proposed chapters should include several references to both trans theory and film theory.

We especially welcome proposals exploring films from the following genres:

• Action Adventure
• Animation
• Apocalypse Films
• Biopic
• Comedy
• Coming-of-Age Films
• Documentary
• Drama
• Ethnographic Films
• Experimental Cinema
• Fantasy
• Historical Films
• Horror
• Musicals
• Mystery
• Road Movies
• Science Fiction
• Silent Films
• Sports Films
• Thriller

We particularly encourage authors to draw upon one or more of the following concepts:

• Abjection
• Activism
• Adaptations
• The Anthropocene
• Archives
• Camp
• Cross-dressing
• Diaspora
• Disability
• Ethnicity
• Exit Scapes
• Film Festivals
• Fungibility
• Gender Dysphoria
• Glocalization
• Historicity
• Human Rights
• Identity
• Inclusion
• Intersectionality
• Medicalization
• Monstrosity
• Music
• Nature
• Normality
• Passing
• Performativity
• Politics
• Postcolonialism
• Posthumanism
• Postmodernism
• Queer Phenomenology
• Race
• Religion
• Reveal
• Shimmering
• Sound
• Subalternity
• Subjectivity
• Temporality
• Tipping Point
• Tranimals
• Transability
• Transgender Gaze
• Transphobia
• Trans-poetics
• Visibility
• Visual Culture
• Waste
• Wrong Body

Interested authors should submit a 300-word abstract, a 200-word biography, and a sample of a previously published chapter or article to

https://bit.ly/IndianTransCinema

no later than May 1, 2025. If your chapter will have more than one author, please send a 200-word biography for each author. Proposals submitted by email will not be accepted. Abstracts and biographies should be submitted as Word documents, and previously published chapters or articles should be submitted as PDFs. Both Word files and PDFs should contain the author’s name in the file names. Please include your email address in your biography file so we can contact you with our decision about your proposal.

Proposals should focus on films with a specifically trans focus, not merely a broadly LGBTQ focus.

Authors will be notified whether their proposals are accepted by June 20, 2025. Partial first drafts are due by August 1, 2025; solid first drafts of full chapters are due by November 1, 2025; and final versions that cross-reference other chapters extensively are due February 1, 2026. All chapters must include at least one author with a PhD. In your 200-word biography, please note the year and university where you earned your doctorate. Only previously unpublished works will be considered.

You are welcome to submit more than one abstract. If you submit multiple abstracts for different chapters, please add a note at the top of each abstract to indicate whether you wish to be considered for writing only a single chapter or whether you wish to be considered for writing more than one chapter.

The most competitive proposals will detail the author's argument. It is not enough to describe what you plan to do in your chapter. You should summarize what you will conclude. List the specific film or films you propose to include and then explain what your analysis will demonstrate.